


Smoke and Mirrors

by ipso__facto (ipso_facto)



Category: Lord of the Rings RPF
Genre: Angst, Experimental Style, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-03-29
Updated: 2003-03-29
Packaged: 2018-04-24 15:15:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4924603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ipso_facto/pseuds/ipso__facto
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which there are lessons learned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Smoke and Mirrors

**Author's Note:**

> Dom POV.

_New Zealand_    
  
Sometimes they let him watch. Billy says he likes an audience. Elijah likes what Billy likes.  
  
Billy smirks when they fuck, lips thin and stretched, green eyes that make him shudder with need and fear. Billy spits his words, barks his orders, and Lij groans and stiffens and grinds and follows them. Dom hates the sight of Elijah’s pale skin, unless it is marked by Billy.   
  
Some days Dom practices his snarl in the mirror. He twists his mouth and hardens his eyes, but when he looks, his own face is looking back. The glittering shards earn him seven years of bad luck.   
  
Somewhere along the line, New Zealand has taught Dominic how to want.  
  
~~  
  
 _Los Angeles_  
  
Dominic has always enjoyed the La Brea tar pits, where the gooey substance bubbles thick and black to the surface, coating somewhere in their depths the pale, ruined bones of the creatures that used to rule the world. Sometimes, when LA is too much and Elijah is too needy and Billy is too far away, Dom lurks and watches the tourists come to marvel at the majesty. Dom laughs at their innocence.  
  
Watching the steam curl above the re-creations of forgotten monsters, he thinks of Elijah’s cigarettes. He wishes that he could just as carelessly coat his lungs with flaky black death and enjoy rotting himself from the inside out.   
  
Somewhere along the line, LA has taught Elijah how to smoke.  
  
~~  
  
 _Mexico_  
  
Three years in, and Dom isn’t sure that he’s going to survive to seven. His skin is pale. His eyes are red and swollen, dry and dusty like the desert.   
  
Dominic adores it when he discovers the bruises. He worships the aches and pains and bleeding purple spots that fade to shiny yellow at the edges and remind him that his body is still living and healing. Every spot makes him think of Billy. He doesn't wonder when Billy isn't around to draw the sludgy substance to the surface, to let it run, if only for a moment, fast and watery through his capillaries.   
  
Somewhere along the line, Billy has taught Mexico how to bruise.   
  
 _end._


End file.
